One of the Guys (25 page)

“
What if it needs altering?”
Gretchen said.

“
I’ll try it at home. If it hold up
to my stretches, it’ll be fine on the day.” I said, trying to
convince them to let me hold off a little longer.

I’d only just started to cope with
the skinny jeans and T-shirt.

“
We’re done for the day.” Carly
smiled, a glint in her eye. “But before we leave…” She motioned to
Charlotte who pulled out a box from behind the table and placed it
on top. “It’s Chase’s birthday!”

“
Oh God.” I groaned, but I smiled
at their thoughtful gesture.

They got me a cake, decorated with
a dirt bike and chocolate ‘mud’. I laughed when I saw the model of
the rider with mud all over her face and hair.

Sian had done that.

“
Happy birthday, Chase.” Carly
said, hugging me.

Each girl then took turns to hug me
and give their wishes too.

I smiled, even though I still felt
I was missing a part of me.

Clearing my head, I blew out the
candles Carly had lit and we all had a piece of the delicious cake.
As I watched the girls talking, I noticed Sian and Kate having
their own conversation, checking that the other girls weren’t
paying them attention.

Kate was giving her some serious
eye action and Sian reciprocated.

Hello!

They were passing each other heated
looks and Sian blushed, turning her eyes away… connecting with
mine.

She looked shocked, and scared at
the same time, saying something to Kate. They both began acting
like what I’d seen hadn’t happened.

Well, well, well, Sian.

Not long after, we all started to
clear out, ready to go home.

“
Chase, can I talk to you a sec?”
Sian asked.

“
Sure.” I replied, unlocking my car
to let Poppy wait inside. I knew what it would be about.

“
Um… I wanted to talk to you about…
before.”

“
What about it?” I
asked.

“
I know you saw, Chase.” She said,
raising an eyebrow.

“
So?” I shrugged.

“
So?” She narrowed her eyes. “Is
that all you’re going to say?” She whispered.

“
What do you
want me to say, Sian? I saw you and Kate exchanging glances? Do you
think I’m bothered by it? So
what
? You and Kate have a thing
going on. That’s none of my business.”

Sian looked surprised.

“
You’re… not shocked?” She asked,
in disbelief.

“
Sian, you like girls. Big
deal.”

“
Please don’t tell anybody. If my
parents found out, they’d go ballistic.”

“
Sian…” I said,
trying to assure her. “It’s none of my business
or
anybody elses. I
won’t say a word. However, what’s the deal with Lex?”

“
Seeing Lex means I can see Kate
without my parents getting suspicious. She’s actually his cousin,
and my parents think we’re just best friends. I show up at the
diner to keep up appearances.”

Just best friends.
I thought. That stung, even though I knew Sian
never aimed that at me.

“
You’re secret’s safe with me.” I
said.

Leaving Sian, I walked to my car
thinking about how Lex was sweet for doing that for her. Well, he
was probably doing it more for his cousin, but still… It was nice
of him to do that. So, the comments about her being good for other
things… he’d lied. It had all been an act.

Now the whole looking me up and
down didn’t seem as sleazy as I once thought. He wasn’t
with
Sian, and I
wondered if he’d actually been seeing anybody himself.

Things sure were getting more
interesting around here.

“
What did Sian say to you?” Poppy
asked as I got in the car.

“
She apologized, again, and said
that she thinks that the squad is going to surprise everybody at
homecoming. She mentioned the uniforms and the stunts
too.”

“
Oh, ok.” Poppy smiled.

I hated to lie, but Sian had
trusted me, and no matter what had happened between us in the past,
I wasn’t going to say anything.

I dropped Poppy at her house and
made my way home. My parents wanted to have a family dinner and
watch a movie together. I didn’t want to go out, so my Mom was
setting things up at home.

Hitting some more road works; I
cursed out loud when I’d been redirected towards Logan’s street.
That was the last place I wanted to be driving by today.

Taking a calming breath, to steady
my hands on the steering wheel, I drove down the road.

I tried my best to keep looking
straight ahead, but I couldn’t help looking when a movement caught
my eye outside Logan’s house.

Chapter
12

Logan

Arriving home from the batting
cages, I walked up the path to my front door. Before I could turn
the handle, the door opened.

My eyes met the person I’d been
sickened to find in my house the last few times.

Cassie.

Just like the first time, on my
birthday of all days, she was leaving just as I was returning,
luckily. I remembered feeling nauseated as I saw her smiling face,
and her messed up hair.

I’d gone into the house as she
walked away, when a black car caught my eye. A brand-new Mustang.
It was sweet.

Blowing me a kiss, she sashayed
down the path and I slammed the door shut before she could say
anything.

Exactly the same as I did just
now.

“
Matt!” I yelled.

“
What?” He yelled back.

“
Why the hell
was
she
here, again?”

“
Chill out Logan, she leaves before
you get back.”

“
That’s the
thing,
you
shouldn’t even be here, let alone
that
tramp.” I snarled.

Matt had been hooking up with
Cassie for the past week, and it was disgusting. He’s twenty-one
and she’s still seventeen. Legal, but still…

Now, I was going to have to face
her in school, tomorrow; our first day back, and know where my
brother’s been.

I shuddered before stomping off to
my room. I seriously hoped he hadn’t been in my room with
her.

No. My Mom still kept his room for
him here, at our house, regardless of the fact that he had his own
bachelor apartment in the city. It was costing him money, and he
was hardly there.

He’d been gone for a few days, but
then started hooking up with Cassie so, again, he was
around.

I had a feeling that something in
the city was making him come back home. I just didn’t know
what.

I showered and then relaxed on my
bed, switching on the TV. No need to place the pillow on my lap.
Chase wasn’t here.

Chase.

God
I
missed her so much.

Even after the amazing birthday
gift, I still hadn’t been able to contact her. Her Dad still
wouldn’t let me see her, not that she’d been home. Apparently,
she’d been busy with gym. He warned me to stay away from there,
too. I didn’t know why, but something in my gut told me that Larry
was even more pissed with me than before. I had no idea why. I
hadn’t seen Chase at all, and I assume my number was still blocked
from her phone because I couldn’t get through and my texts wouldn’t
send.

I turned off the TV, not watching
anything, I switched on my computer and looked through all of the
photos of us together from our Freshman year, until before the
summer.

I’d printed a ton of photos of us.
Some of them Chase didn’t even know about. They weren’t weird or
anything, no they were just of her smiling and laughing, and I took
the photos when she wasn’t looking.

They were my favorites. When she
wasn’t posing. When she was just being Chase.

My Chase.

I wanted her back so much, and I
knew I had to fight for her.

Senior year started the very next
day, and I already had butterflies in anticipation of seeing her
again.

Hell, I’d dreamed about it for the
past few weeks.

Most of the dreams… they hadn’t
been innocent, at all. In fact, if Chase knew what I’d dreamt, the
situation we were currently in; I’m pretty sure she’d castrate
me.

Stroking my fingertips down the
screen, over Chase’s face, I felt the familiar ache in my chest. I
wanted to touch her for real.

Fuck it
.
I thought to myself. I have to tell her, explain to her… She needs
to know how I feel.

Knocking on my door, Matt walked in
and I clicked the screen closed.

“
Hey. Cassie and I aren’t serious,
you know.” He said, sitting on my bed.

“
I don’t care, Matt.” I said,
without looking.

He blew out a breath.

“
It’s just a casual hook up every
now and again. It’s what we both want, and we’re not going to be
all hearts and flowers over it.”

“
I don’t give a
shit
what
you do with her, Matt.” I spat. “It’s the fact that you’re
bringing her here. To our house.” I raised my voice. “We go to the
same school, for fuck’s sake!”

“
How’s that a problem?” He asked,
oblivious to the reason for my anger.

“
Oh my God! Not only has she been
in our house, she’ll tell people in school. She might start talking
to me, too.” I really didn’t want that to happen.

“
Why’s her talking to you a
problem?”

“
Because I can’t stand
her!”

Matt didn’t seem to realize, or
care, what I was trying to say so I told him what Chase had told me
Cassie had said; that day on the bleachers.

“
So? She thinks you’re hot. Like I
care.” Matt laughed as I groaned. “Like I said, it’s a hook up.
Nothing more. I couldn’t care less if she hooked up with somebody
else. As long as I’ve got the protection…”

“
Spare me the details.” I said,
Matt laughing again.

“
Sure, little brother. But you
know, if you actually tried it…”

I glared at Matt. He knew damn well
I wasn’t going to go there. Not with her and not with any other
girl.

Even though, since my birthday,
he’d stopped saying that without Chase I’m a free man, he never
stopped the little comments about maybe trying to just hook up with
someone.

Not happening.

I really didn’t want anybody
knowing about Matt and Cassie. It would spark too many questions.
Things like ‘Cassie and your brother?
Are
you hooking up with her too?
’ and
possibly… ‘
I thought you were with
Chase
.’

That last thought caused a bolt of
pain to shoot through me.

If Chase found out about them, she
would be horrified. That is, if she even cared anymore.

I couldn’t think like that, when I
hadn’t even seen her, and I tried to clear my head by lifting a few
weights in the garage.

Chase needed to know how much she
means to me. She needs to know everything I did was because I was
too scared to tell her.

The thing is… I have no idea how to
do that because she was still not talking to me.

*****

It was the first
day of senior year, and I dreaded it already.

I felt so alone, like I’m wasn’t
myself, and I hated it. I felt like a weak, pathetic guy who
couldn’t cope.

During my thoughts of self pity, I
absent mindedly found myself driving towards Chase’s house, to pick
her up.

Turning, I doubled back.

She’d probably have her own car
now. I snorted a laugh, remembering how she’d wanted a motorcycle,
and her Mom had thrown a fit.

I didn’t know what she’d get, but
knowing Laura, Chase’s Mom, it’d be something safe and not very
fast.

Pulling into the school parking
lot, I saw Stu and Carl standing at the entrance.

“
Hey.” I said, as I approached,
feeling an empty space beside me.

“
Hey Logan.” They replied, in
unison.

“
So, here we are. Senior year.” Stu
said, grinning.

“
This is our year, boys.” Carl
said, rubbing his hands together. “It’s gonna be epic.”

I nodded, without actually
agreeing.

Looking around, I couldn’t see
Chase anywhere. I scanned the crowds that were showing up, looking
at those with dark, or black T-shirts, and the same hair
color.